Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Shoes 101

Running Shoes are the single most imporant piece of equipment for a runner. A good running shoe should fit like a glove and should feel like your running on clouds! Shopping for a good quality running shoe is like shopping for a diamond ring. I want the best fit, the best look (sorry i am a girl!) and the best shoe out there.
There is no perfect shoe out there for all of us, because every runner is different, every shoe is different. The challenge is to find a shoe that fits you in every perfect way! That is why heading to a running store is worth it! Running stores are educated in this area, they can tell just by you walking which shoe can help with your runs! I highly suggest finding the nearest running store in your area and get fitted for your diamond shoe!

I learned the hard way why running stores are important and why having a good shoe is worth every penny. My first 10K I ran in Nike shocks, I believe they were size 8's. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Nike shocks-LOVE THEM! They look amazing, they feel amazing when I am not running in them but they did not work when i ran in them. I trained with them but only ran 3 miles at a time. Doubling the miles to 6 made my feet bleed and get some nasty blisters. The last mile of that race was like death to me, I hated it. I valued after that 10K that I would never run again. After the race I was unable to wear shoes for 2 weeks, kind of hard for a PE teacher flip flops saved me!
Shortly after my first 10K I decided that NO bloody feet was going to stop me in my dream of being a runner. So I joined team in training and valued to run a 1/2 marathon. I was told by the coach that I should go to a running store to get a shoe that works for me. Lesson one-ALWAYS go to a running store when buying running shoes! The guys at the store were amazing! I told them my issues with my 10K and they explained that my shoes were to tight and that the toe box was causing my feet to bleed. He came out with size 10's and I about fell over. I was wearing 2 sizes to small my first race. I tried on about 10 pairs of shoes and found the perfect fit, I honestly felt like I was running on clouds! Lesson two-Always get your running shoes one size bigger!

So anyways-I got my running shoes last night from the columbus running company. My main worries about this race is my feet. Every race I have ran in my feet have been the injury. 10k bloody feet, first 1/2 numb toes, second half pain in the ankle area and last half pain in the left arch. I just want to get thru a race without wishing I had a new pair of feet! So i got a new pair of shoes, I usually run in saucony's so it was hard for me to stray away from them. After trying on a million shoes, i decided the best show was Nike structure 12. They fit great, feel great and hopefully when I am done running 10 miles I will still love them!

So hopefully what you get from this post is---Shoes are so imporant! So go get a pair from the running store! Even if you think they are to much money, buy them its totally worth it!

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